Pegasus: How a Spy in Your Pocket Threatens the End of Privacy, Dignity, and Democracy

by Laurent Richard, Sandrine Rigaud

Featuring an introduction by Rachel Maddow, Pegasus: How a Spy in Our Pocket Threatens the End of Privacy, Dignity, and Democracy is the behind-the-scenes story of one of the most sophisticated and invasive surveillance weapons ever created, used by governments around the world.

Pegasus is widely regarded as the most effective and sought-after cyber-surveillance system on the market. The system’s creator, the NSO Group, a private corporation headquartered in Israel, is not shy about proclaiming its ability to thwart terrorists and criminals. “Thousands of people in Europe owe their lives to hundreds of our company employees,” NSO’s cofounder declared in 2019. This bold assertion may be true, at least in part, but it’s by no means the whole story.

NSO’s Pegasus system has not been limited to catching bad guys. It’s also been used to spy on hundreds, and maybe thousands, of innocent people around the world: heads of state, diplomats, human rights defenders, political opponents, and journalists.

This spyware is as insidious as it is invasive, capable of infecting a private cell phone without alerting the owner, and of doing its work in the background, in silence, virtually undetectable. Pegasus can track a person’s daily movement in real time, gain control of the device’s microphones and cameras at will, and capture all videos, photos, emails, texts, and passwords—encrypted or not. This data can be exfiltrated, stored on outside servers, and then leveraged to blackmail, intimidate, and silence the victims. Its full reach is not yet known. “If they’ve found a way to hack one iPhone,” says Edward Snowden, “they’ve found a way to hack all iPhones.”

Pegasus is a look inside the monthslong worldwide investigation, triggered by a single spectacular leak of data, and a look at how an international consortium of reporters and editors revealed that cyber intrusion and cyber surveillance are happening with exponentially increasing frequency across the globe, at a scale that astounds.

Meticulously reported and masterfully written, Pegasus shines a light on the lives that have been turned upside down by this unprecedented threat and exposes the chilling new ways authoritarian regimes are eroding key pillars of democracy: privacy, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Technology, Audiobook, Espionage, Business, Crime

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 17, 2023

Reviews

[Ricky TL · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Kelly {SpaceOnTheBookcase] · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love nonfiction books, especially when they’re covering political matters, secret operations and so forth. So after the first quarter of this book I was really disappointed to realize that it wasn’t hooking me. While the deep dive into what Pegasus is, who created it and how it was being used is interesting it is also really fact and people heavy. I almost DNF’d. I’m glad I didn’t.

Around the fifty percent mark it started to flow, I felt more at ease with knowing who the players were and it started to get into the nitty gritty of publishing and what that would entail. By the time I got to 75% I couldn’t read it fast enough.

Overall it’s a great book, but as a heavy book I’m worried people will give up on it too early. What I really appreciated was the unbiased facts and the thoroughly laid out timeline to follow.

Thank you Henry Holt for gifting me a copy to review.

[A.J. McMahon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this was going to be a technical, computer science-y kind of book about Pegasus: the world's most dangerous spyware.

But no. This book was more like "journalists: how we developed and released the story about a spyware called Pegasus".

It was not really about the spyware.
It was all about journalists and what they had to do in order to bring the story to light. A very boring read which dragged on forever about each step of the investigative journalistic cycle...

[Yukari Watanabe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm just grateful that these journalists like Richard and Rigaud exist. Without these journalists who risk their lives to investigate and tell the truth, our democracy would not survive.

My Japanese review: https://youshofanclub.com/2023/02/17/...

[Ula Tardigrade · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Pegasus project led to one of the most important breaking stories of 2021. The whole world learned about this malicious surveillance tool and how it was exploited by many supposedly democratic governments. Nobody could feel safe anymore, as the following publications vividly have shown - among the victims were journalists, opposition politicians, activists and business people.

From this book you will find out how journalists learned about this and then found enough proof to expose the wrongdoers. It is also a rare opportunity to understand how today’s investigative media works. Long gone are the times when a few journalists from a single outlet could shake the world with the results of their work. All the most important investigations are now done by international consortiums, usually led by small independent newsrooms or networks, like Forbidden Stories or Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). Authors of this book generously share their modus operandi, describing in detail the ups and downs of being an independent investigative reporter.

The book is very well written and also describes many background stories of the journalists from countries such as Azerbaijan, Hungary or Morocco. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in news and international affairs.

Thanks to the publisher, Henry Holt and Company, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

[Neal · Rating 2 out of 5]

The PBS Frontline special was much better.
This book was more about the journalist/people rather than the spy software and group. Mostly the story of how the journalist got together to write a bunch of stories and have a coordinated release of the stories. While interesting, it was not what I expected.

[Slava Drozd · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Pegasus” is advertised (on the cover) as an investigative journalism product, exploration of a sophisticated software product designed for cyber surveillance, and this is why I bought the book. However, it is worth noting that the book leans away from an in-depth examination of the software itself, potentially leaving tech enthusiasts like myself seeking detailed insights a tad unsatisfied.

Nonetheless, the book boasts significant merit as it unveils the realm of corrupt regimes and the absence of human rights in countries such as Morocco, Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia and others - Russia’s not being mentioned is a bit confusing though. These revelations serve as an eye-opening reading, casting light on critical (IMO) societal issues.

From a technical standpoint, "Pegasus" could have greatly benefited from broader involvement of IT professionals to provide a more comprehensive perspective on the software's inner workings. While the book primarily features journalistic perspectives, it does fall short in delivering substantial technical details about the software product in question.

Structurally, the book may appear somewhat hurried, making it a bit challenging to follow at times. To enhance its overall coherence and appeal, further reviews and edits would undoubtedly be beneficial.

All things considered, "Pegasus" remains a thought-provoking read, particularly for those interested in the world of cyber surveillance software and its implications on privacy and security. It serves as a relevant and timely exposé, urging us to contemplate the societal impact of such advanced surveillance technologies.

[Anatolikon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A frustrating book that I desperately want to give five stars to based upon the excellent journalism. Unfortunately, this is over-written and heavily focused on a narrative around a handful of key characters and their backgrounds, rather than the spyware itself or its implications. There's some justification for this since the authors make a good case that the spyware is being used against journalists, but it left me wanting a bit more by way of analysis. I learned a lot about the authors' colleagues in Morocco and Azerbaijan and Mexico but far less than I expected about Pegasus itself and how it works and who is really being targeted. There's a great deal of important stuff here, but this is essentially a story about breaking the story, and if you're looking for more depth into private surveillance companies, global surveillance, or spyware, look elsewhere.

[Cav · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Successfully deployed, Pegasus essentially owns a mobile phone; it can break down defenses built into a cell phone, including encryption, and gain something close to free rein on the device, without ever tipping off the owner to its presence. That includes all text and voice communications to and from the phone, location data, photos and videos, notes, browsing history, even turning on the camera and the microphone of the device while the user has no idea it’s happening. Complete remote personal surveillance, at the push of a button.
NSO insists its software and support services are licensed to sovereign states only, to be used for law enforcement and intelligence purposes. They insist that’s true, because—my God—imagine if it weren’t..."

Pegasus was an eye-opening look into how technology can be used (and abused) by state actors with ill intentions.

Co-author Laurent Richard is a French journalist, documentary filmmaker and producer. He is the founder of Forbidden Stories. He was awarded the European Journalist of the Year by Prix Europa. He is a Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting grantee.
Co-author Sandrine Rigaud is a French investigative journalist. She directed feature-length documentaries for French television and investigated different corporate sectors while working at Premières Lignes Télévision.

Sandrine Rigaud and Laurent Richard:



The quote from the start of this review continues, mentioning the good intentions of this unprecedented invasive technology:

"The cybersurveillance system the company created and continually updates and upgrades for its sixty-plus clients in more than forty different countries has made the world a much safer place, says NSO. Tens of thousands of lives have been saved, they say, because terrorists, criminals, and pedophiles (pedophiles is a big company talking point the last few years) can be spied on and stopped before they act. The numbers are impossible to verify, but the way NSO describes it, the upsides of Pegasus, used within legal and ethical boundaries, are pretty much inarguable. Who doesn’t want to stop pedophiles? Or terrorists? Who could be against it?"

Unfortunately, there is a steep and slippery slope from going after child molesters and terrorists, to rounding up political dissidents and journalists critical of the government. And unsurprisingly, when many state actors with nefarious intentions got their hands on this powerful tool, they proceeded to do just that.
The book opens with a decent preface and intro. The writing here is pretty terrifying.

The authors describe the scope of their investigation into Pegasus:

"THIS BOOK IS the behind-the-scenes story of the Pegasus Project, the investigation into the meaning of the leaked data, as told by Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud of Forbidden Stories, the two journalists who got access to the list of fifty thousand phones. With the list in hand, they gathered and coordinated an international collaboration of more than eighty investigative journalists from seventeen media organizations across four continents, eleven time zones, and about eight separate languages. “They held this thing together miraculously,” says an editor from the Guardian, one of the partners in the Pegasus Project. “We’ve got, like, maybe six hundred journalists. The Washington Post is maybe twice the size. And to think that a small nonprofit in Paris, with just a handful of people working for it, managed to convene a global alliance of media organizations and take on not just one of the most powerful cybersurveillance companies in the world but some of the most repressive and authoritarian governments in the world, that is impressive.''”
"...In the daily back-and-forth of American news and politics—my wheelhouse—it is rare indeed to come across a news story that is both a thriller and of real catastrophic importance. Regular civilians being targeted with military-grade surveillance weapons—against their will, against their knowledge, and with no recourse—is a dystopian future we really are careening toward if we don’t understand this threat and move to stop it. The Pegasus Project saga not only shows us how to stop it; it’s an edge-of-your seat procedural about the heroes who found this dragon and then set out to slay it."

Not equipped with the same anti-virus and anti-malware tools as your home PC, your mobile phone is just waiting to be hacked; likely without you even knowing it. The authors say this:

"WHERE’S YOUR PHONE right now? That little device in your pocket likely operates as your personal calendar, your map and atlas, your post office, your telephone, your scratchpad, your camera—basically as your trusted confidant. Matthew Noah Smith, a professor of moral and political nphilosophy, wrote in 2016 that a mobile phone “is an extension of the mind.… There is simply no principled distinction between the processes occurring in the meaty glob in your cranium and the processes occurring in the little silicon, metal, and glass block that is your iPhone. The solid-state drive storing photos in the phone are your memories in the same way that certain groups of neurons storing images in your brain are memories. Our minds extend beyond our heads and into our phones.”
Professor Smith was making the case back then for a zone of privacy that extended to our mobile phone. If the state has no right to access the thoughts in our head, why should it have the right to access the pieces of our thoughts that we keep in our mobile phone? We tell our cell phones almost anything these days, even things we aren’t cognizant of telling it,b and use it as the conduit to offer the most intimate glimpses of ourselves. (See sexting.) If you believe your privacy is being secured by encryption, please read this book, and consider the fifty thousand people on that horror show list, who unbeknownst to them were targeted to unwillingly share every single thing that passed through their phones with people who only had to pay for the privilege.
That list of fifty thousand was just our first keyhole view of the crime scene. If they could do it for fifty thousand, doesn’t that mean they could do it for five hundred thousand? Five million? Fifty million? Where is the limit, and who is going to draw that line? Who is going to deliver us from this worldwide Orwellian nightmare? Because it turns out you don’t have to be married to the emir of anything to find your every thought, every footstep, every word recorded and tracked from afar. Turns out you just need to have a phone, and a powerful enemy somewhere. Who among us is exempt from those conditions?
Where did you say your phone is right now?"

Some more of what is talked about here includes:
• Mexico; Narco syndicates and gov't corruption
• Azerbaijan
• Morroco; Govt corruption
• Hungary; Viktor Orban
• Isreal's cybersecurity industry; their refusal to regulate the Pegasus software
• Pegasus's role in the death of Jamal Khashoggi

Fortunately, NSO, the Israeli-based cyber-security company behind the Pegasus software, is now out of business, although the threat of other similar software remains. The authors write:
"NOVEMBER 2021, FOUR months after our publication, was when NSO began taking on serious water, and without properly functioning bilge pumps. The man who agreed to come in and right the NSO ship fled a week after news of the blacklisting, before his official start date. “In light of special circumstances that have arisen,” Isaac Benbenisti wrote to the NSO board, he “would not be able to assume the position of CEO with the company.”
Novalpina, the private equity company that had become majority owners in 2019, had collapsed in on itself, and a new set of consultants were now looking after the interests of shareholders invested in NSO. The employee pension fund of the state of Oregon, for instance, was understandably shaky about continuing its large equity position in what the US government called a tool of “transnational repression...”
...Sales of Pegasus slowed to a trickle, and Moody’s pronounced the company in danger of defaulting on its debt. There was some doubt that NSO could make its November 2021 payroll. Thanks to some excellent reporting by the Financial Times, we know what was happening inside NSO at that dire moment. Shalev boldly announced a new plan to boost revenue—start selling to those “elevated-risk” customers again. NSO’s new financial minders at the Berkeley Research Group were understandably alarmed. BRG hadn’t even received necessary security clearances from the Israel government, so it had no real vision into the arms export sales that NSO specialized in...
...NSO could split off all the ugly liabilities inside the company’s Pegasus system and sell them on the open market, maybe even to a US defense contractor. By the middle of 2022, it was pretty clear that NSO was not going to rise from the ashes. The company had ridden its signature product, Pegasus, to the top of the mountain, but the wings on the stalking horse appeared to be irreparably broken...
...THE DEMISE OF NSO is a cautionary tale for the current traffickers of these military-grade cyberweapons and the wannabe traffickers. But it is also a cautionary tale for all the spyware critics and the human rights defenders who hope to forestall the Orwellian future where cybersurveillance is a baked-in fact of our civic life. NSO might be crippled, but the technology it engineered is not. The issues of protecting privacy and freedom of expression and freedom of the press might have been raised, but the solutions are not even in the works..."

***********************

Although the broader story here is incredible, unfortunately, I found this presentation of it a bit too long and dry at times. There is a virtual blow-by-blow account of the journalist's efforts at breaking this story.
IMHO, a decent chunk of the book could have been edited out with no loss to the overall presentation.
I also found the narration of Laurent's portions of the audiobook version to be borderline grating. The narrator is almost mumbling the words, and it made it very difficult to keep up.
3.5 stars.

[Liz Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually listened to the audiobook, but GoodReads doesn't have it listed.

[Keith Bates · Rating 1 out of 5]

Things I learned from this book:

The journalists’ opinions of Donald Trump, Viktor Orban, Enrique Peña Nieto, and a host of other political figures.
Their opinions on January 6th, 2021 despite being neither American nor even in the United States for it.
That they dutifully followed Covid restrictions on masking and 6 feet of separation.
That one of them smokes when he’s stressed.
That one of the team members doesn’t have a refrigerator or wifi at home because somehow that’s better for the environment.
The complete family history of one of the team members to include his father’s exploits as a member of the IRA.

Things I have not learned from this book:

Very much about Pegasus


In fairness I think the issue arises from a major conflict between what the title of the book tells you it will be about versus what the book is actually about. The title makes it seem like you are going to be doing a deep dive on the Pegasus software when in reality what you have is a book about a group of journalists’ efforts to expose said software.

Far more time is spent on the mission of the team, their beliefs, what drives them and crafting a narrative around that than delving into the issues of surveillance and the tools used by those intent on knowing (and therefore controlling) everything we do.

My suspicion is that this was done on purpose because far more people would be interested in the story the book advertises versus the one it tells. Whether this was done by the journalists in some kind of clickbait scheme or by the publishers I don’t know. Regardless, you essentially have a bait and switch with the book not being as advertised.

However, even taking that into account I didn’t find the book to be particularly interesting or well written. There are times when the book does craft a decent narrative but those are few and far between. The majority of the time it’s a repetitive jumble that takes itself far more seriously than it should. Especially given that the narrative the book actually tells is more of a sales pitch for the journalists’ organization than it is the story of the Pegasus cyber surveillance software.

These people seem to think that they are the important part of the story rather than the growing cyber surveillance culture worldwide. I get it, they believe journalism is vital, and in a lot of ways it is, but their overinflated sense of their own importance speaks to the reason journalism is suffering now.

There is some information on Pegasus though, you just have to wade through a lot of junk to find it. And to be perfectly honest, I genuinely don’t know much more about Pegasus after having read this book than I did going into it.

I say skip it. There’s no reason to waste your time on this when you can find more, and better, information elsewhere.

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pegasus, the most cunning cyber surveillance system where those who are targeted by the malware have no idea they’re being watched. No notification, no reason to question the thing that is their iPhone, Android, or laptop. As described by the CEO of the company, Pegasus was a ‘trojan horse’ that was ‘sent flying through the air to devices’ and claimed that it was never mis-used for illegal ventures.

A system used by governments, the UAE, Israel, Morocco, and the USA (with many more) is bound to be taken into the wrong hands and turned into a result with malicious intentions. That’s just paranoia speaking, right? No technological system that is of such danger can go that long unregulated without anyone popping a question mark.
Turns out, if you pay millions of dollars to keep someone’s silence, every raised eyebrow can be swept under the rug.

And how can one really question something that isn’t even there?

The novel Pegasus starts off with an anonymous source revealing a list of 50,000 phone numbers that had been targeted by people that used the Pegasus spyware program; one of them being the president of France. This is the stepping stone for journalists Laurent Richard and Sandrine Riguad toward the biggest scandal that led to a mass shooting in France at their office, and bringing to light the journalists, human rights defenders, lawyers and political figures that were suppressed and murdered by those who had access to Pegasus.

A story that sounds like a myth, but is proven true to the core is pursued by the high end forces of powerful government figures that frantically try to keep the truth veiled. Through a great writing style presented by Sandrine and Laurent, with descriptions to easily explain complicated politics and technological languages, the lies that hold the dynasty of Pegasus finally come to light – and the truth shocks society to the core.

Rating: ⅘ – mainly given for the braveness shown by those involved in the Pegasus Project.

[Tree high · Rating 4 out of 5]

Co za lektura!

Od wczoraj, 🥳 26.04 🥳 po polsku 😍 w tłumaczeniu Michała Strąkowa (Insignis Media). Poleca jej ostatnia korektorka 😊☺️😎

[Raghad · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let me start by saying that I was really looking forward to this book. The story in very intriguing, an “isreali”-made spyware that is hacking our phones and making our privacy obsolete.

However, by the 60% mark, the hypocrisy of the writers did me in. When the writers describe that the neighboring countries hatred towards “isreal” is “irrational”, I had to stop listening. The book talks a lot about how this affected journalists in Morocco, and in Mexico, but nothing about Palestinian journalists, or Palestinian political activists.

How did a journalist looking to tell the truth completely ignore how this is affecting Palestine, the country that “isreal” is constantly trying to annihilate?

I wasn’t going to add this to my books, but I had to write a review. This is something that a lot of reviewers missed (or ignored)

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. It took me a very long time to get into this book and to understand all of the different side-stories and background. But by the end of it I understand why they were all there. Without the backgrounds of all of these different people involved - whether it be the CEO of NSO, a journalist, or de engineers who vetted through phones to find proof of Pegasus infiltration - you simply don't get the same sense of impact.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Het verhaal is zeer zeker interessant en het lezen waard. Helaas gaat het niet zo diep in de de technologie zelf en meer over de journalistieke kant van de ontdekking ervan. Daarnaast is de schrijfstijl vrij zwaar en zijn de verwijzing in de tekst naar personen en plaatsen erg verwarrend. Mocht je geïnteresseerd zijn in een boek over dit onderwerp en meer diepgang zoeken zou ik deze laten liggen. Als je een verdere inkijkt wilt in het werk van journalisten en de impact die deze technologie had op hun werk dan is het zeker een aanrader.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super creepy, if you don’t know what this is, like me, take some time to scroll the internet on it. The book scratches the surface

[where the pages bleed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please excuse me while I ignore my phone after reading this...
BUT READ THIS 🤣

[Suhasa · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Read via Blinkist)

[Jung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Follow the journalists who uncovered the truth behind the greatest cyber security threat the world has ever seen.

Think about your smartphone. This small device is, in a very real sense, an extension of your own mind. It stores your photos and notes, like your mind stores memories. You use it for your most private and intimate conversations. It stays with you at all times – tracking your location.

You wouldn’t want someone reading your mind, so imagine if someone had complete access to your phone. Reading your messages as you receive them. Scrolling through your pictures. Secretly turning on your camera and microphone, to see and hear everything around you.

This is exactly what a government, organization, or even an individual can do when they infect your phone with Pegasus – the state-of-the-art cybersurveillance software developed and sold by Israeli company NSO.

If this software concerns you, you’re not alone. When details of this flagrant violation of privacy were brought to investigative journalists Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud, it triggered a global and monthslong investigation. Here are the behind-the-scenes details of how that investigation started, and how the small team of journalists went about shining a light on one of the greatest cybersurveillance threats in history.

---

A leaked list set the Pegasus investigation in motion.

In 2020 a top-secret meeting took place in a small rented apartment in East Berlin. Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud – investigative journalists from the independent French journalism network Forbidden Stories – were asked to turn off their phones, put them in the next room, and close the door.

These precautions might seem dramatic, but the hosts of the meeting – Claudio Guarnieri and Donncha Ó Cearbhaill from Amnesty International’s Security Lab – could take no risks with the data they were about to share.

They had a leaked list. On that list were about 50,000 private phone numbers which they believed had been selected as potential targets for the state-of-the-art cybersurveillance program, Pegasus. Someone wanted access to these phones, and they didn’t want the owners to know.

The existence of this technology wasn’t new information. The for-profit Israeli company which created it – NSO – claims that the software is only licensed to government agencies, for the purpose of fighting crime and terrorism. It’s easy to take down cartel leaders, drug smugglers and pedophiles when you have a copy of their phone.

However, as the journalists and tech experts began analyzing the list, they found a much darker truth. The phone numbers being targeted weren’t just for bad guys. Many were government officials. Academics. Human rights activists. Political dissidents. The largest group – with over 120 numbers  – was journalists.

The implications of this were staggering to Laurent and Sandrine. If NSO’s clients were targeting innocent individuals, then the very nature of free speech and democracy were under attack.

The true danger of having access to this list – why the secrecy and disabled electronics – became apparent when they looked at a series of numbers selected by a Moroccan client, targeting members of the French government. One name in particular stood out: Macron. French president Emmanuel Macron.

If somebody had the audacity to spy on one of the most prominent leaders in the world, then there’s no telling what they would do to keep that secret.

The two journalists knew they had to bring this story to the public. Their mission was as clear as it was difficult: Turn the information on the list into hard evidence, while remaining hidden from one of the largest cybersecurity companies in the world, and their powerful clients.

---

The first steps of the investigation were slow, methodical, and cautious.

What do you do with a huge case and 50,000 possible leads around the world? Laurent and Sandrine proceeded methodically. Nothing was going to come from a list of phone numbers from an unidentifiable source – they needed to independently verify that those numbers had been targeted for Pegasus infection.

They kept the information within the small circles of Forbidden Stories and Security Lab at first – the more people who knew, the greater the risk of losing the element of surprise. Not even family members or loved ones could be told.

However, the scope of the task meant they would eventually need to expand their circle and reach out to journalists in other countries. The tech experts Claudio and Donncha set about developing a method of secure, encrypted communication which could be used by journalists collaborating on the investigation.

They also created a forensics tool, which could scrape someone’s phone for evidence of Pegasus. It was up to Laurent and Sandrine to convince one of the 50,000 targets to volunteer their private phone for testing.

That first volunteer came in the form of Jorge Carrasco, director of Mexican investigative publication Proceso. In 2016, while reporting on a group of businessmen linked to the infamous Panama Papers, he received a text message from an unknown number, claiming to link to an important memo from a reputed journalism website. He replied “Who is this?”, but wisely did not open the link.

But luckily for Laurent and Sandrine, he also did not delete the message.

When approached by the journalists asking for permission to analyze the data on his phone, Jorge was understandably cautious, but eventually consented. He was working with Forbidden Stories on a different project, and he trusted that Laurent and his team knew what they were doing.

The mysterious text message matched up perfectly with the data they had in the leaked list. This was the first validation of both the authenticity of the data as well as the ability of their forensic tools.

It was the first step in a long journey, but they knew they were on the right track.

---

By collecting evidence and collaborating with more journalists, the “Pegasus Project” took form.

On top of collecting and corroborating evidence, the project needed partners around the globe prepared to coordinate mass publication of the project findings at an agreed upon date.

In January 2021, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and the political unrest of the presidential inauguration, Laurent and Sandrine arrived in the US to enlist the help of the Washington Post. They already had the support of the large European news outlets Die Zeit, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Le Monde, but they knew having journalists in the States would be crucial for the project's success.

The team revealed what they had found and expected to find regarding the data, and after a 20-minute discussion with Jeff Leen, the head of the Post’s investigative units, they had the resources and support of one of the largest news outlets in the U.S.

The following months involved investigating the data, and coordinating with partners about preparing their articles and making sure nobody revealed their hand before the designated publication date.

The confirmations of the data and evidence of Pegasus’s misuse continued to pile up. The Moroccan government spying on journalists. Attempts in Mexico to subdue protests and criticism of the president. Saudi Arabia spying on journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s relatives, shortly before he was assassinated.

Before the publication date, Laurent and Sandrine reached out to NSO with their findings, to allow the company to make a statement before the news hit. The initial reply was brisk and dismissive, accusing their sources of outright lying. Some news outlets were preemptively threatened by defamation lawyers. However, none of the responses addressed any of the project’s claims directly.

All the editors involved double checked that the language of their articles was clear and precise, and made no claims beyond the evidence gathered. They were ready to go live.

On July 18, 2021, right on schedule, the Pegasus Project was on the front page of seventeen major media outlets across ten different countries.

---

These book has shown you the story behind the inception, development, and release of the “Pegasus Project.”

The following days were a whirlwind for Laurent, Sandrine, and all the partners involved. The Kingdom of Morocco attempted to sue Laurent and Sandrine for defamation, for the allegations of spying on the French government.

Meanwhile, the French government began threatening Laurent with legal action if he didn’t share the list and reveal the source. But journalistic ethics and integrity won out, and the source remained safe.

As for NSO, first they vehemently denied the allegations, defending the crime-fighting importance of their software, before eventually saying “enough is enough” and refusing to talk to the media. Eventually, sales of Pegasus dropped, and by mid 2022 it was obvious that the company was not going to recover.

In these days of cybersurveillance and invasions of privacy, it’s important to be vigilant about who is monitoring our activity, and what kinds of agendas they have. Thanks to the hard work of journalists like Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud, these threats to privacy, dignity, and democracy will continue to be brought to the public light.

[Steve Essick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Today class, for our daily dose of real life paranoia, we have Laurent Richard’s and Sandrine Rigaud’s brilliantly terrifying new book of investigative journalism, #Pegasus, which is the name of a cyber surveillance program sold by a company named NSO. Originally developed to keep tabs on the “bad guys” by the “good guys” , it has morphed into deadly tool purchased by the “bad guys” to enable them to target their enemies ( the “good guys”)..And here’s the kicker - it works by infecting your iPhone ( or other mobile device ) without you being aware of its presence. What this means is for the right price and wrong motive everybody is vulnerable to being under surveillance. Think about that ! #Pegasus is a fascinating tale of a nightmare tomorrow that is really today, and should not be missed.

[Kalyan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about journalists and their approach to filing reports on Pegasus attacks worldwide.

Did I enjoy reading the book? There wasn't much to enjoy as it is more of a documentary.

Any takeaways? The book highlights that your digital life is not secure; if someone wants to intrude, they will.

What did you like most about the book? I appreciated learning that there are people out there who care about the greater good of the world and are willing to sacrifice their freedom and peace of mind for you to have them.

It's important to note that this book doesn't focus on the Pegasus software itself. It's not a technology book but rather a narrative on how journalists collected, collated, cooperated, and published a story on NGOs.

[Radek · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Pegasus: How a Spy in Your Pocket Threatens the End of Privacy, Dignity, and Democracy" by Yasha Levine discusses the use of Pegasus spyware by governments to surveil and target activists, journalists, and dissidents. While the topic is important, the book's writing style and organization may be difficult for some readers, and the tone can be overly sensationalist. Overall, it may not be a book that everyone would enjoy or recommend.

[Kenneth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first third was very information sparse and felt a bit aggrandizing to the field, the company, and the individuals. I preferred the forward to the book over the first two chapters. This does temper a bit in the latter two thirds, which were interesting but still seemed more interested in the story of the life and operation of the Pegasus Project than the subject of the software itself. I think if it were marketed as such, I would have enjoyed this more.

[Estela Peña Molatore · Rating 3 out of 5]

La ciberseguridad es una preocupación de cualquier usuario de tecnología, pero es, sobre
todo, un tema de seguridad nacional e internacional. Pegasus, un innovador sistema de espionaje cibernético ideado, en teoría, para garantizar la seguridad de los ciudadanos del
mundo, se revela como un arma de espionaje, control, política, narcotráfico y terrorismo.
Quien tiene la información, tiene el control.
Una investigación fascinante, aunque para muchos gobiernos va a convertirse en una piedra en el zapato.

[Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible, but 100% true tale of investigating pernicious spyware that's been used to attack journalists, human rights advocates, opposition politicians, and even the President of France. For folks not as into tech, this might be a less essential read, but the storytelling is great, and critically, the authors never lose sight of the human impact of these tools, even as they talk about the technical aspects and the hunt to validate an incredible set of tips.

[Pat Rolston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great investigative reporting yields this compelling book documenting Israel’s preeminent offensive cyber software company. The scope of the spyware dissemination to rogue regimes and bad global actors is jaw dropping. This is a must read to better understand the unrelenting assault on our privacy and civil liberties. When the smart phones of heads of state are easily compromised where does that leave the average person?

[Peter Z.]

Lost me at Rachel Maddow. Nobody in the Milky Way, who is fair minded, believes a word she says. Her association with a work of alleged nonfiction is enough to call the entire effort into question.

[Zare · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book about the privately funded, built and internationally distributed modern wire-tapping software that found its niche when it comes to monitoring the mobile devices.

So first of all what this book is not about - it is not about the technical aspects of Pegasus as a software and how it was developed (even from the perspective of the third party involved say from the beginning of the software rollout). Reason is very simple - in my opinion software was not independently developed by private company, governments (starting from Israel and then others, most definitely US but any other Western ally) were involved and software is definitely in more modern/updated version still in use. So, no matter the investigative journalism approach, these things will not see the light of day until vetoed by powers to be.

What this book is about - about how group of journalists came across a list of phone numbers (context how this list got to them is absolutely unknown, book just starts with and-we-were-astounded-by-the-list) and then started investigation, identifying parts of the list (actual people) and finally finding out that ever present and very invasive spy software called Pegasus, sold by Israeli private company NSO, was installed in order to monitor various journalists, political activists and in general opposition in various countries around the world.

While above is interesting I have to admit that this was not what I was expecting. I was expecting some more technical commentary, and no this does not include and-he-watched-the-screen-extremely-worried parts of the book depicting Amnesty International technical team (two truly good engineers) as they work through the analysis of the phones looking for the Pegasus infestation. This is good for TV show or novel but in non-fiction account looks kinda silly (I could imagine 24-like multiple frames and clock ticking while techies mumble and talk to themselves - I had to laugh out loud when one paragraph described one of the engineers pointing to the black multi-colored screen (most probably command line prompt output) and saying to the journalist around how this section means this-and-that; you would have problems explaining that to a colleague from the same area of expertise, let alone somebody who definitely does not comprehend what is going on, but ok, this was in for a dramatic effect).

Authors (and journalists) have managed to give a picture of how very dangerous and invasive surveillance piece of software got purchased by international community. Of course we are only given glimpses of states that have issues so to speak, and where authors' colleagues and friends found themselves under surveillance (Mexico, Azerbaijan, India, Hungary to name the few). It is mentioned that software was sold to other parties in Europe and world-wide but these do not get mentioned (I guess because authors' are not interested in these areas, and because these are "democracies" (I will get back to this)). Same as is case with standard weapon proliferation and sales this is shady world and possibility of these new cyber-weapons/surveillance tools to be misused is very high (even for it to fall into hands of criminal organizations like Mexico cartels). All in all very very disturbing picture.

As I said book concentrates on the journalistic investigation, preparing the story and finally launching the story while keeping everyone under full isolation to prevent the opposition (NSO and supporting governments) from meddling and possibly disrupting the story. Here and there we are given portraits of some of the journalists that authors are good friends with that have found themselves on watch lists of their country governments because .... well, obvious animosity they have against those governments. In some states (like Azerbaijan or Mexico) this brings in some very real life-threatening aspects into play.

So in that aspect very interesting and informative book.

What I did not like is the following...

Authors are not just journalists but political activists. While work they did here is excellent and they truly exposed a very dangerous mechanism of surveillance, they are political activists (while I am very very wary of Soros and his various NGOs, that sponsor good part of the journalists involved here including the authors, it shows that sometimes people he stipends do a very good investigative job). This means that every so often there is this emotional aspect in the narration that just makes me puke to be honest - Washington "reeling" from the January demonstration in the Capitol [with even mentioning how senators were assaulted by the demonstrators!?!?] and constant mention of "biggest democracy in the world" when talking about India and Mexico and their use of Pegasus software. For the former, it reminds me of Mrs Clinton statement how she found herself and husband under sniper fire when she came with husband to Bosnia and Herzegovina AFTER the war - this was such a slap to the face of US Army securing the area they immediately published a response that there was no sniper fire at all - but "heroic" deeds remained, dramatic elements installed.

For the latter what are we talking about here? If anything epidemic forced people to install monitoring and surveillance software onto their phones to be able to move around in the first place (remember those French police officers going through streets and requesting phone inspection to see if software is installed and records are in order, or Australian police arresting people for comments on Facebook?). What democracy are we talking about when Canada declared protesters to be only second to terrorists and froze their financial means and sent fully armed SWAT teams to break the protests up while constantly talking about the violence (although reports clearly showed no violence at all - blockade yes, demonstration yes but no fire-bombs and destruction as was case with [I guess, OK'd] demonstrations little bit south of Canada that were left to rampage through).

Unfortunately epidemic showed that government is not so democratic, nor so for-the-people-by-the-people, more like for-the-security-of-institutions, which makes sense and is understandable, people come and go, politicians and administration remain and are constant.

So, when it comes to politics, authors' could do without it (it did not age well).

I have a feeling that book should have come with the links to various new websites involved because these actually contain the true story, but since these are almost all behind paywall and require subscription, that would be deemed as free ad, so authors decided against it.

As it is, lots of questions remain open - who was targeted (especially when it comes to governments), what was found about the possible motives for targeting (again, for authors' journalist friends it is clear, but what about others?) - all of this remains unsaid. And again, it is clear why - first, to move forward subscribe to some of the newspapers in question and dig on your own, second - I don't think book would be published because of ties and relations, especially between governments.

To sum it up - book feels like a digested version of events without the actual story, teaser of sorts. Considering the current world events I think full details will never be known.

Recommended to anyone interested in surveillance (and worldwide spread and effect of Pegasus, one of the many "crawling" around - for this alone book value is great) but caveat emptor as they say, you will learn more about various independent journalist groups than actual spyware in question.

[Megan (ReadingRover) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really interesting and scary but I just couldn’t get into it. Also I didn’t feel like it really affected me directly like the title and prologue implied. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right state of mind to listen to this right now. I had to stop and go back to it a bunch of times and almost didn’t finish. 2 stars